"Integrated IT provision at universities - all a question of technology?"

"Data centers are currently facing a double challenge. On the one hand, they must maintain the continuity and stability of ongoing IT operations, and on the other, they must implement the necessary innovations as quickly as possible in the wake of the digital transformation," said Peter Dräxler, Professor and Head of the IT Service Center at the University of Kassel and host of the conference.

Hesse's CIO Patrick Burghardt delivered the greetings from his department and was able to report on the activities of the IT Planning Council. In 2023, he took over the rotating chairmanship of this body. As a political steering body, the IT Planning Council supports cooperation between the federal and state governments on issues relating to information technology and the digitization of administrative services in Germany. In the current year, Patrick Burghardt informed, the focus will be on the topics of cloud transformation, digital skills and Online Access Act (OZG) 2.0.

Integrated IT provision is no longer viewed solely from a technical perspective. Birte Hackenjos, CEO at Haufe-Verlag, showed the changes in the world of work that are noticeable for everyone and their consequences for the recruitment for personnel at universities in her virtual lecture "Working worlds of the future". She clarified against which competitive offers universities have to position themselves in order to be successful in recruiting IT professionals.

In November 2018, the federal and state governments had agreed to establish a National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). To realize the existing networking in and between the NFDI consortia in research and information technology through basic services, the project "Base4NFDI" started on March 1, 2023. Fittingly, Regine Stein from the Lower Saxony State and University Library in Göttingen gave a presentation on the origins and objectives of the project, thus promoting participation.

Torsten Prill, CEO and CFO of ZKI e.V., summed up: "I can only agree with the conclusion of the lecture 'Integrated IT supply - what you really need' by Gerhard Schneider, prorector and head of the computer center of the University of Freiburg. All the expert presentations showed that a functioning integrated IT supply can only succeed through a well-orchestrated interaction of the components technology, organization and people."

The association "Centers for Communication Processing in Research and Education" (ZKI e. V.) is the association of IT service centers of colleges, universities and research institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany. The ZKI was founded in 1993 with the goals of promoting the exchange of experience among member institutions and representing the interests of the central infrastructure facilities to other associations, politics and the public. The ZKI is the sought-after and recognized expert for all topics of digitization in teaching and research.

The work of the ZKI is carried out by twelve working groups. Three working groups held their meetings prior to the conference. Following the conference, the Information Security Working Group invited participants to the 1st BSI Basic Protection Day 2023, which was again attended by around 200 people from business, public authorities and universities.

A trade exhibition with 30 exhibitors accompanied the ZKI conference in the proven manner. The next ZKI conference will take place from September 11 - 13, 2023 at the TU Dresden.

Contact:

Apl. Prof. Dr. Peter Dräxler
Head IT Service Center of the University of Kassel
E-Mail: peter.draexler[at]uni-kassel[dot]de